


Birds and the Bee

by NonbinaryHylian (chicagoartnerd)



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One, Transformers: Bumblebee Movie
Genre: Body Worship, Cultural Differences, Culture Shock, Egg Laying, Eggpreg, Foursome - M/M/M/M, Hurt/Comfort, Insecticon Bumblebee, Languages and Linguistics, M/M, Mech Preg, Multi, Post-Bumblebee (Movie 2018), Praise Kink, Seeker Trines, Spark Sexual Interfacing, Transformers Plug and Play Sexual Interfacing, Transformers Spark Bonds, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-17
Updated: 2019-06-17
Packaged: 2020-05-13 09:04:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19248064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chicagoartnerd/pseuds/NonbinaryHylian
Summary: Bumblebee is propositioned by the elite trine who are in desperate need of his help on Earth.Things go sideways, then up, and finally even better than expected when he suddenly finds himself with three seeker sparkmates and a clutch of eggs.





	Birds and the Bee

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Starbee Week ya'll!!!! I've got lots of lovely content for everyone this week so keep your eyes on my account lol. 
> 
> This is for the "Smut" prompt because I've never written a foursome before but now...oh yes now I have. There were so many hands and like genitals ya'll...so many. 
> 
> Also shameless egg fic because that was like the one thing the Bayverse continuity did right was make Starscream super protective of egg babies. Also for reference all of their designs are like the Bumblebee Movie designs or in Bumblebee's case the yellow and black of his redesign in TFP as he was a Camaro at the end of the Bumblebee movie. I took liberties with the world building because we didn't get much info in the Bumblebee Movie in that regard. Like why the war started etc.

“I told you that hit was too hard! What in the pit is wrong with you!? We wanted him knocked out not dead!”

“Pffft please. He’s a sturdy little groundpounder, I mean that’s half the appeal right? Look he’s waking up already.”

Bumblebee’s optics onlinned and the scene before him formed ringed with fizzling static. It wasn’t a particularly welcome sight as two the Decepticon seekers stared down at him curiously as he looked up at them from his prone position on the ground. He scrambled back and realized to his shock that he could. They hadn’t placed him in stasis cuffs then.

Bee did a quick systems check and realized they hadn’t done anything to his weapons systems either, the whole suite was still fully functional. He instantly raised his arm and the electricity of his stinger crackled to life over it. The seekers took a step back from him and started talking all at once but their voices were drowned out by the low hum of a fusion weapon powering up directly behind his left audial.

“Put that away! Don’t make me blow it off. We’d prefer you all in one piece.”

Starscream’s voice was unmistakable coming from directly behind him. Frag.

Bee shut down his weapons suite and put away his stinger, for the moment. The two seekers in front of him must have been Thundercracker and Skywarp, the other members of Starscream’s trine. He’d only ever seen them from below while they bombed the various bases and holdings he had been scouting. Bee was a SpecOps scout, a glorified spy, he wasn’t really built for direct combat. Not like the three warbuild seekers looming over him. Double frag.

He didn’t even have time to wonder why they were all on Earth. His processor was still swimming from that clock to the head, presumably Skywarp, had given him. He shook his head slowly and ex-vented.

His vocalizer was still slagged from Blitzwing, he could use the Earth radio frequencies to speak, but he had a feeling they wouldn’t like that. But now that he had fully restored his memories he realized he spoke Vosian. Along with an abundance of other languages and dialects. Perks of being a spy, had to know all the enemy’s various dialects and codes in order to sift through relevant intel and feed it along the pipeline. Plus the clicks, whirs, and chirs of the metal on metal mouth plate dialect was almost identical to Insecticon Polyhexian. His first language.

Bee sent out a rapid fire barrage of clicks and dental whirs. “Just what the pit do you fraggers think you’re doing?”

Skywarp grinned widely and pointed at him while he shouted in Neocybex. “Holy scrap he speaks Vosian! And his accent is actually quite ruggedly charming. I told you two he’s perfect!”

Thundercracker rolled his optics and responded in a dignified whir of Vosian, he was using a nobel dialect so his syntax was more formal. “My mate I never insisted he was otherwise, simply that we had to approach him cautiously. He is an Autobot and not even a flyer, he will most likely question our motivations for asking this of him.”

What exactly were they asking of him?

He heard the transformation sequence of the energy weapon behind him turning off and stowing away in Starscream’s arm as he walked languidly to stand next to his trinemates in front of Bumblebee.

He smacked Skywarp on the shoulder and barked at him in loud angry Vosian clicks. “You two already spoiled it by smacking him over the head like a couple of common thugs! I told you to bring him here **_unharmed_ **.”

Skywarp had the good sense to look slightly chagrined as he responded in softer less formal chirrs. “He’s fine now! So I got a little uh, excited during his capture, we need his help okay! Sooner rather than later.”

A dark shadow of a look passed between all of them before three sets of bright red optics pinned him where he was still sitting back on his elbows on the floor. Why hadn’t he stood up yet?

He leaned forward slightly and his head swam, oh yeah the head injury, ugh thanks Skywarp. Which brought the question back around again, why did they need his help? With what? They were the enemy, well he was their enemy. Bee didn’t really have anything personally against individual Decepticons per say. It’s just their faction was, uh, hunting him and his because they didn’t want to be intergalactic tyrant conquerors like the Decepticons did. But maybe this was unrelated? It certainly seemed so.

Bee tilted his head to the side and spoke in lilting metallic whirs. “Blitzwing slagged my vocalizer, otherwise I’d be cussing you fools out in Neocybex, what exactly do you want? Other than, total intergalactic domination, genocide of organics, unlimited power and control, that is.”

Skywarp raised at hand and flapped it at him dismissively switching back to Neocybex. “Puh-lease. We don’t give a scrap about all that, that’s all Megatron’s to-do list and nobody knows where he’s been for years, not even Soundwave. We just like to be on the winning side. Call it a force of habit. No, what we want is to make you our _provider/mate._ ”

That last word was in Vosian as it had no equivalent word in Neocybex. Both Thundercracker and Starscream turned to Skywarp angrily and shouted. “Skywarp what the frag!?”

Skywarp shrugged his shoulders up to his audials and whined. “Whaatttttt? He speaks Vosian. I figured he’d know what that is at least? It’ll make things easier if he does!”

Starscream seethed at him between clenched teeth in Neocybex. “Lingual fluency does not denote cultural fluency you great giant glitch! Now you’ve definitely ruined my carefully thought out proposal and there is little chance of him saying yes!” His voice cracked and screeched even higher towards the end of the sentence.

Bee just stared at them all with wide blue optics in shock and disbelief.

He knew a little about trines, they were like smaller Insecticon swarms. Bee knew a trine was a family unit, sometimes made up of multiple mated pairs. That particular detail was usually kept between members as bots outside the trine’s flock didn’t really need to know. He also knew that in Vos trine’s were a political and military unit as well. They were often formed to cement alliances between powerful families and factions.

He wasn’t privy to the details of Starscream’s trine and until this very moment he never thought he would need to be. Scrap.

Were they seriously asking him...to join theirs? He knew that trinemates tended to have various roles suited to their strengths and abilities, what they could add to the trine to make it more powerful, but he wasn’t familiar with the layered word _provider/mate_. He was gonna have to get real familiar with its meaning and fast if he wanted to get out of this situation in one piece, or alive at all.

Thundercracker glared at Starscream and then pointedly turned to Bumblebee with a placating gesture before dropping into a deep and complicated bow, his wings fluttering in a quick upticking pattern. Another language he couldn’t speak but understood somewhat, flyer wingspeak had various dialects though. He assumed Thundercracker was using High Vosian Wingspeak as it had looked very fancy. Bee wasn’t sure if it was a sign of respect because he thought he would understand it or if he was just doing it unconsciously to be formal.

He addressed Bumblebee in low respectful High Vosian. “Please humbly excuse my wingmates. **Both** of them are not used to showing...the proper protocol and restraint.”

Starscream eyed him evilly but Thundercracker ignored it and continued in a subdued, placating series of chirs. “Your grasp of Vosian is impressive, would you be offended if I inquired where you came to learn it?”

Bee arched an optic ridge at that and shrugged, careful not to move his head too much. He clicked a mild response “I was sparked in Polyhex, and not the nice part of it, the dialect there was click-text based communication. When I joined up with the Autobots they realized I had an affinity for languages and taught me thousands. I picked up Vosian and other click-text based dialects easiest as they were most similar to the one spoken by my original progenitors.”

Thundercracker’s optics lit up with interest and he was about to ask him another question when Starscream interrupted him with some annoyed screeching chirps. “We don’t need to inquire as to his _lineage_ Thundercracker! That is **not** the reason we’re trying to court him.”

Thundercracker gave him a sour look and then rolled his optics away from Starscream and motioned for him to get on with it then. Bee watched fascinated. Had he really woken up from being cold clocked by seekers or was this some sort of defrag addled dream? They wanted to court him!? What? Why? He supposed Starscream was going to be answering those questions as everyone was now staring at him.

He fidgeted slightly before ex-venting and turning his burning red optics down towards Bumblebee. His Vosian was even more formal than Thundercracker’s as he addressed him. “Autobot Bumblebee, my trine comes before you in dire need of your assistance. We seek a temporary ceasefire and mutual accord. If such is amenable to you then we seek consent to court you as an additional trinemate.”

Bumblebee blurted out a high pitched squeaky click before he could stop himself. “Why!?”

He slapped his hands over his mouth plate, even though it would do no good, he’d already asked. Starscream looked deeply uncomfortable before Skywarp threw up his hands and in exasperation. “Just show him Screamer! He’s an Autobot, they’re all good and noble and all that other slag. He won’t do anything to hurt them, or us, once he knows!”

Starscream stiffened and looked like he might take Skywarp’s head off his shoulders before Thundercracker interceded gently. “He’s right Star, we wouldn’t have selected Bumblebee if we truly believed he would harm us or them. We need to tell him why we want to add him to our trine or he’ll never accept.”

Them? Who was them? What the slag was going on?

Starscream hissed raggedly and turned on his blue thrustered heel before moving to the side of the large rock filled room they were in. Bumblebee took in his surroundings then, he should have done so already, that was his training. But the seekers had been..distracting. He realized they were in some type of mining cavern, the ceiling was relatively high over their heads, there were old rusting metallic train tracks running past the open cavern into the darkness down below. There appeared to be some sort of generator humming in the corner, powering a set of lights and a small comms array over in the corner next to a mound covered in a large black tarp. Starscream hesitated before the tarp and then crouched down before it, his movements surprisingly gentle as he peeled back he coverings to reveal several glowing shapes. There were four of them, all smooth and soft oblongs, that glowed a brilliant turquoise from within.

Eggs! They were...Primus they were Cybertronian eggs!

There hadn’t been...no one had... it had been over two million years since anyone had produced a clutch of eggs. Since before the beginning of the war. In fact, you could argue, restrictions on who could reproduce was one of the major reasons for the start of the war. And yet that was undeniably what the objects under the tarp were. Bee had never seen any in person obviously but he had seen holovids and datafiles. He knew all mechs that weren’t forged came from eggs.

There had been a stigma against the hatched on Cybertron, it was a class thing, in favor of forged mechs, but still eggs were rare. No wonder Starscream had been trying not to show him. This...Primus, this changed everything. This changed nothing. What in the pit was he supposed to do about this? Thundercracker was right, he wouldn’t hurt the eggs, or their creators. There was no way in nine hells anyone would ever forgive him, Autobot or Decepticon, if he destroyed the only fertile mating trine currently in existence. But also this was dangerous. So, so, dangerous. Just what was he supposed to do about this?

He watched Starscream coo affectionately to the eggs, gently rubbing his talons in whirls over each of their soft surfaces before covering them again carefully. Something in Bee’s spark cracked at the sight. He had carrier coding, not every bot did, and it stirred to violent life watching Starscream fuss over the eggs. Bumblebee would have died to protect those eggs now. Frag.

Bumblebee still had no idea what he was supposed to do in this situation. Why they wanted his help, why they had shown him the most important thing on Earth. Possibly even more important than the Allspark if it really was here after all. It didn’t matter, even if they could revitalize Cybertron, if there were no new generations to live on it nothing would help. Optimus had all of them out scouring the Earth trying to find the Allspark before the Decepticons did. That was what he had been doing when he was ambushed by Thundercracker and Skywarp. But it seemed Bee had just found something even more important.  

Bee shrugged at Starscream helplessly as he returned to stand next to his trines mates. His chirrs were plaintive. “I still have no idea what you need my help for! You’re all older than I am, meaning you were probably around when eggs were a more common thing instead of possibly the last of our kind. What can I do that you can’t for them? I’m not saying I won’t do it, honestly you’re right I’d do anything for them absolutely now that I know they’re here, but what can I do?”

All three of their red optics glowed wide in surprise and then narrowed in triumph. Skywarp whooped and punched up towards the ceiling while letting out a stream of excited clicks. “See! What did I tell you two glitched worry whirls? He’s perfect, this is gonna all work out fine and nobody is gonna die, especially not the bitlets.”

Die!? They all whipped around and down to look at Bumblebee because he had released his EM field from close under his plating. It was full of alarm as it washed over the mechs in front of him.

Starscream opened his mouth to snarl something at Skywarp when Thundercracker cut him off speaking over both of them in his elegant High Vosian whirr. “You have seen the reason for our request for aid and now understand the gravity of what we are about to ask of you. My trinemates and I need a _provider/mate_ to assist us with the care and protection of these sparklings. Someone strong, resourceful, and clever, and above all _discrete_. We have debated whom to proposition for longer than we should have and for that I personally apologize. Traditionally we would give you longer to decide, we would court you properly with all the respect due your position, but time is quickly running out. The eggs require a steady supply of energon that we simply can’t provide.”

Energon? Couldn’t they use electricity or gas or other Earth fuels to power up their internal filters and make it themselves? Wait. They could but the eggs couldn’t yet! In order to feed the eggs and help them grow enough to hatch they needed to be fed a pure source of liquid energon. Slagit!

There wasn’t a natural source of energon on Earth, those eggs, they were too far from Cybertron to make it back in time. The clutch was going to die. Bee’s sudden realization and the burst of sorrow and helplessness in his EM field spurred Starscream to action. He knelt in front of him and took both his hands in his own before Bumblebee could stop him.

His voice was shockingly low and soft when he spoke in Neocybex while looking down at Bee’s black hands grasped in his own clawed blue ones. “No. I will _never_ let them die. I was a scientist before the war and I have devised a way to synthesize this planet’s solar energy into liquid energon. The problem is there are certain pieces of equipment, parts and resources, that are very rare and hard to come by that we cannot acquire on our own...none of us flightframes are inconspicuous here on Earth. We can only scan flying alts because of our builds. That is why we need your help.”

With that he pulled on Bee’s hands and with a slight gasp Bumblebee was pulled to his feet without any effort on his part as Starscream rose. It was like he didn’t weigh anything at all, the sheer difference in strength was staggering. Starscream smirked a little at his wide eyed expression as he let go of Bee’s hands and went to stand next to his trinemates.

Starscream raised his chin haughtily and swept his arm toward Skywarp and Thundercracker as he switched back to Vosian. “Because of your unique skillset, alt-mode, and uncanny ability to slag Decepticons three times your weight class we are offering you full equal membership in our trine. As _protector/mate_ you will be expected to perform your agreed upon duties to the very best of your abilities and in return we will provide you with all that our own abilities grant us.”

The way he said it he made it sound like Bee should be honored to be offered such a thing. Maybe he should be? Bumblebee had never heard of a grounder being joined with a trine.

But hey, maybe that’s what that word meant, the layered harmonic chirr of _protector/mate_. Maybe that was a word for a non-flightframe joined to a trine? He had so many questions but even he knew time was of the essence. Depending on when those eggs were laid they would start to fade sooner rather than later without energon.

The problem though was he didn’t know enough about Vosian culture, trines in particular, to know the full extent of what they were offering him. And what they were asking of him. Frag.

Speaking of, would that be part of his “duties”? Primus only knows what that would be like, would they all three at once or...? Okay, that might be an important question to ask but it wasn’t the most important thing to fixate on. He tried to pull his processor out of the gutter for a moment and focus on the important bits. Not _those_ bits.

Bumblebee’s brow furrowed as he clicked at them seriously. “You have me at a disadvantage because I’m not familiar enough with Vosian trines to know exactly what you’re offering me but _you_ know that. You’re also at a disadvantage because I’m pretty much your last chance to save those eggs and if I was a Decepticon I might use that to my advantage somehow. You’re very lucky I’m not. I’ll help you get the parts you need to build your energon processor without trining with you. I’ll do it because it’s the right thing to do. I’m warning you though I’m not gonna kill anyone to get you what they need. That’s my line, I won’t cross it.”

All three of them stiffened at his words and then looked at each other quickly, their wings dancing and flicking back and forth.

Skywarp was the first to speak as he let out an exasperated noise. “Fragit just let me explain it to him!”

Both Thundercracker and Starscream made equally loud frustrated grunts and crossed their arms defensively. They were mirrored on either side of Skywarp and they almost looked...cute. Bee was trying not to think of any Decepticons as cute, he was trying so hard.

Thankfully Skywarp distracted him from that thought. By addressing him in hurried excited clicks. “Trines are multi-layered and complicated, sometimes they take ages to form as negotiating them to everyone’s mutual agreement is difficult and time consuming. There are a lot of rules and regulations that are specific to Vos but also individual trines often have codes of conduct, rules, guidelines, and just like, preferences. We are giving you open discretion. This means that you can renegotiate the confines and bounds of your joining with us, and break it at any time for any reason. It’s almost unheard of, it’s kinda a big honking deal to offer someone that.”

“I know you don’t know any of the history, I’m sure _Thundercracker_ would love to take forever explaining it to you, but just know this is a...honor. It’s a big show of faith and respect towards you, someone who is supposedly our enemy right now. We **_want_ ** you to trine with us as a _protector/mate_. Like we’ll take your help even if you don’t want to join us, as we really need it, but we’re offering you what we feel is a fair exchange. For all that you are we offer you all that we are. We’d really like for you to accept.”

Bumblebee stared at all of them blankly, at a total loss for words. What do you say to something like that? They were all looking at him keenly, Thundercracker and Skywarp with naked hope and Starscream with wary suspicion.

He felt a little like he was falling from a great height again. Earth’s atmosphere burning and tearing at his plating. Now though, if he wanted it, there would be someone, or someones, there to catch him. Frag he had known he was going to help them the second he saw the eggs but this was something else all together. They were basically proposing to conjunx him at this point, that was the closest frame of reference he had for it.

And that was, well they had said he could break up with them at any time right? In a way, he knew the way things were set up with trines that his refusal or later breaking the bond would hurt them a lot more than him, even though he was the one supposedly helping them. Not good.

He didn’t know what he was doing, he was so out of his depth here he didn’t even think Charlie could dive down and save him. Then again, when had that ever stopped him before?

Bumblebee squared his shoulders and met all of their optics while using the most formal intonation he could muster in Vosian. “I accept your generous offer to join your trine as its _protector/mate_. I will do everything in my power to care for and protect your sparklings up to and including giving my own life for them. On this you have my word. Though I will not take another’s life for their sake, yours, or my own. That is non-negotiable. Other than that tell me what your need and I will do my best to do it.”

All three of them stared at him in disbelief for so long he thought he might have crashed their processors.

The dead silent staring was starting to make him squirm before finally Skywarp cackled and wrapped his arms over both seeker’s shoulders while grinning at him giddily. “What did I tell you? I have excellent taste! This is so good! I can’t wait to give him the traditional welcome! Although I know we can’t just yet for apparently important reasons.”

Starscream snorted loudly and it made Bee jump a little. He drawled in Neocybex at Skywarp. “If you gave him the ceremonial welcome by yourself it wouldn’t take more than three minutes, ten tops.”

Skywarp’s silver faceplate went a little blue with energon and he opened his mouth to yell at Starscream when Thundercracker cut him off. His Vosian very proper and clipped. “We don’t have time to give him the ceremonial welcome he is due, unfortunately. Because we are at war, and there are sparklings involved, it is entirely proper to give him a cursory welcome bond _he_ feels appropriate. We must keep in mind that he doesn’t know any of our customs and might not even wish to interface with us at all. We must show his preferences and wishes on this matter the utmost respect.”

Bee’s processor had caught on the word interface and he was having trouble listening past it. Yes, he supposed that would be a part of being in the trine but he hadn’t uh, put too much thought to it just yet.

It seemed Primus had other plans for him though as Starscream waved at Thundercracker dismissively. “We’ll just give him the ceremonial welcome we would give to a youngling trine mate as a promise for when they come of age. It’s perfectly chaste. It is a promise of loyalty, service, respect, and future pleasure if he should so desire it.”

His spark swirled rapidly as Starscream smiled at him darkly. He moved forward and took Bee’s head in between both his hands and leaned in so they were nose to face plate and murmured. “I’m going to kiss you on your forehead, cheeks, lips, chest, and both your palms of your hands. Nod if that’s okay? Once I finish you should do the same to me, even though it appears you don’t have lips, just with your mouth plate.”

Bee nodded in wonder as Starscream leaned forward and kissed the center of forehead softly. It was...not what he had been expecting. Skywarp grumbled something behind him and Starscream flicked his wing at him, poking him in the shoulder as he kissed Bumblebee’s cheeks. Each place where he did burned like a bloom of spark flowers and it made Bumblebee’s field flare with warmth.

He felt Starscream’s feather light field for the first time and it was full of subdued, slightly wary, hope. Bee pushed reassurance into his field and Starscream rolled his optics and smirked as he pecked Bee’s mouth plate with a quick kiss. His lips lingered a little bit longer on his chest over his spark and he wondered if Starscream could feel it thrumming excitedly through his mouth.

Then he took both of his hands in his own and kissed the palm of his right one slowly. Bee jumped slightly when he felt his glossa dart out and swirl into the transformation seam in the middle of his palm. He felt his lips quirk into a smile as he scraped lightly at the metal there with his fangs and Bumblebee shivered. Not as completely chaste as he had first assured. When he removed his mouth there was a small kiss print of oral lubricant and Bee couldn’t stop looking at it until he gave the same treatment to his other hand. Then he couldn’t stop looking at that one.

It was only when Starscream pulled back and looked at him expectantly that he remembered he was supposed to do the same things. Since he didn’t have a mouth he didn’t linger the same way the seeker had except when pressing his mouth plate over Starscream’s spark. He wasn’t sure but it felt like it was beating just as erratically as his own, which was a little reassuring. After pressing up against both his palms, he nuzzled them affectionately a little bit before pressing his mouth plate to them. They separated reluctantly and he hadn’t realized it until they did but at some point their fields had merged with each other and it had felt warm and inviting.

He stared at him a little dazed and then at the other two seekers behind them. His clicks and whirs were slightly slurred as he spoke. “What about them? Don’t we need to do the same thing?”

Skywarp started to move towards him before Thundercracker grabbed his shoulder and stopped him while addressing Bumblebee in Neocybex. “No. Starscream is our trineleader, whatever his actions in this are they represent our actions. We’ve all agreed to trine with you and he has welcomed you appropriately so we do not need to.”

Skywarp piped up. “Unless you want us to that is! Not to brag but I’m really good with my glossa and I’d love to-”

Both Starscream and Thundercracker cut him off and talked over each other telling Skywarp to shut up, separately, Starscream used more colorful oathes.

Bee was going to ask another question but Starscream turned back to him, his optics grave as he motioned for Bee to follow him back towards the small communications hub up against the far wall. When they got there he pulled up some coordinates and schematics and they got right into mission briefing.

He was surprisingly candid about why he needed each item on the list. Probably to convince Bee he wasn’t building some sort of super weapon instead of an energon processor. He gave him his personal comm frequency so he could send him files from the schematics and then he asked tactical questions. All in all it was a pretty good briefing and he didn’t feel like it wasn’t anything he couldn’t handle.

He had three target sites he needed to hit in order to get the necessary materials. Only one of them had high security, and it was high security for humans not Cybertronians. The clock was ticking and he had no idea how long it would take Starscream to build his machine so he was hurrying out the main entrance to the mine right away.

None of them stopped him, not that they needed to, all four of them knew that unless he was offlined he would come back to them. He made a note of the fact that the entrance tunnel branched off in two different directions but stayed on the larger tunnel path with the train tracks. It led down and out. When he reached the outdoors he noticed the sun was high again when it had been setting before and they were on some sort of mountain, the entrance to the mine was up a 500 ft sheer cliff face.

Of course the seekers would pick somewhere high above the ground. Vos was a mass of spiraling towers with large sprawling eyries on top of them just above the hazy clouds. It really wasn’t built for grounders, that was intentional.

Luckily humans had just as much trouble flying as he did so there was a gravel road leading down from the mine.

He transformed into his Camaro alt-mode and took off down it in a rush. Hitting the roads, especially the winding cliff side ones in California, tended to take his mind off of things. He got into the feel of the asphalt against his tires, the whoosh and hum of the wind around his windows. It was what the humans liked to call “zen.”

This time though the sense of calm wouldn’t come and he found his processor racing over what he had just done. All the things he was agreeing to and willing to do. How the whole war just seemed...pointless? Silly. He wasn’t going to let the Decepticons murder an entire planet of organics but he also didn’t want to murder any more Decepticons.

Frag was this what Optimus felt like all the time?

No wonder he always seemed so tired and alone. Bumblebee was now anything but. He had just agreed to bond to three seekers and if everything went well adopt at least four sparklings. That was...overwhelming to say the least. He tried to hold that thought in his head and turn it around, look at it from a bunch of angles. Bee had always wanted a big family, he had grown up in one. They might not have all been related directly but the Polyhex hive was a busy, noisy, life filled place. There was also an unfortunate amount of death there but that was less his family’s fault and more the government’s. There was a reason most Insecticons had joined the Decepticons.

When he had first learned about exterminators on Earth and what they did for a living he had recoiled in disgust and horror. That title had the same meaning on Cybertron as it did here. Insecticon population control had been brutal. The Iaconians in their towers had claimed it was for the greater good, to prevent future famine and limit the number of mouths to feed. To Bee it had just looked like a genocide. He was lucky to have escaped the hive alive after the exterminators came.

Lucky in that he wasn’t there at the time but instead out on a courier job in a warehouse across town in the “nicer” part of Polyhex. He was running information between members of an organized crime syndicate there to a bookie named Swindle when there was a police raid and he was swept up in it. Orion Pax had offered him a deal, join up and work as a courier/scout for the police, or go to Garrus-9. It hadn’t been much of a choice but he had jumped at the opportunity for a better life. Orion knew he was just a hive drone but had offered him a shot anyway and Bee had grasped it greedily with both hands. If he hadn’t then he would probably have been a Con like his new trine.

Bumblebee made quick work of the first two supply runs, it had simply required some minor snatch and grabs. It was the last one with security that he was going to have to take a bit more cautiously. On Cybertron his smaller size allowed him to get into vents and tunnels that others couldn’t access, here on Earth he wasn’t as small.

Still, smaller than the seekers, which was why he was vaulting over electrified fences and sneaking around government out buildings instead of them. A low frequency encrypted channel pinged his internal comm and he warily accepted it. When it hooked up he was met with the comm feeds of all three of his new trine. That thought made his vents hitch so he tried to focus on the enforced vault door he was about to hack his way into instead. He could have disconnected but he figured it was important. Turns out they just wanted to talk to him.

_SW: Hey Bee! How’s it going? Everyone here was getting worried as you hadn’t checked in but then I reminded them that you didn’t know our practices on that yet, so here we are checking in with_ **_you_ ** _._

BB: Everything is going fine. I don’t usually check in randomly during missions unless it’s an emergency, there are set times for me to respond with status reports to minimize the likelihood of my comms being detected.

_SS: Oh you don’t need to worry about that, the organics don’t have tech advanced enough to pick up our frequencies and your Autobots won’t be looking for you here. If you wanted I suppose you could contact them, we won’t stop you. Just know what every hour you dawdle, the more dire the situation here gets._

Bee sucked a quick vent of air through his oral intake. Yeah he knew things were very time sensitive, he didn’t really need to be reminded of that right now. Thundercracker must have read his mind because he snapped at Starscream.

_TC: I’m sure he knows that Star. I’m also sure that you constantly reminding him of that fact and pressuring him while he’s trying to be stealthy and go quickly are not helping. We should be offering support and encouragement. Everything intel says about Autobots is that they respond best to positive reinforcement._

Starscream, Bumblebee, and Skywarp all snorted at exactly the same time and then stopped before Skywarp laughed. It made everyone else start to chuckle and just like that the unease broke between them. He got in through the reinforced door and retrieved several chemicals and components storing them in his subspace. He made his way out of the base in the opposite direction he entered before transforming and making his way back towards the mine.

BB: I’ve got everything on the list and I’m on my way back. ETA 1100 hrs.

All three of them started talking over each other excitedly all at once and he couldn’t help but smile. Of course Starscream had to ruin it.

_SS: Good. Now on your way back you will procure several tanks of propane. We’re running low and it’s what we need to power the generators here._  

Bumblebee rolled his headlights.

BB: Ugh. What’s the magic word Starscream?

_SS: What?! What are you on about Autobot?_

He made his faction sound like an oath. Skywarp appeared to be up on Earth lingo though as he snickered.

_SW: It’s ‘please’ Screamer. Not that you like to use that word in general but I think in this situation it’s well deserved. We did accept him as_ protector/mate _so it’s not like you can boss him around the same way you do me and TC._

_SS: I do not boss you around! We have simply decided that for important decisions I hold executive power to make final choices on them. This naturally leads to you two deferring to me most often and for the good of the trine it has proved-_

Skywarp cut him off loudly.

_SW: Oh we know Screamer. What I’m getting at here is that he doesn’t, he doesn't know the first thing about what he’s just joined so maybe for ‘expediency’s’ sake we should explain it. Also he’s_ protector/mate _so he doesn’t have to bow to your executive choices if he doesn’t think they’re the best option._

Starscream grumbled.

_SS: You don’t have to give him all our secrets just yet you know Skywarp._

Thundercracker cut in before they could start bickering again.

_TC: He deserves to know all the rules we expect him to follow Starscream. He’s trine now, it would be wrong to deny him at least that knowledge._

_SS: Ugh fine. We’ll go through the whole covenant later if you want but right now we don’t have time._

They fell silent on the comms as Bee was pulling into a supermarket parking lot along the side of the building where the cages human’s put their propane tanks in sat. He transformed one of his back doors into his arm and broke into the cage, grabbing as many containers of propane as would fit on his back seat. After that he slowly made his way through traffic back out of downtown Bakersfield. There was something he had been curious about since seeing the eggs and since he was still pretty far away he comm’d them again.

BB: So I’m just curious, how did the eggs happen?

Skywarp burst out laughing and Starscream sputtered then sneered angrily at Bee.

_SS: I certainly hope I don’t have to explain to you how Cybertronian reproduction works! Maybe that youngling’s joining I gave you was more appropriate than I originally thought._

Bumblebee rolled his headlights again even though he knew they couldn’t see them.

BB: Not that part. What I mean is the uh, laying I guess, did they come out that size or have they grown? Did all three of you lay that clutch or was it just one of you or-

Skywarp laughed even harder and Starscream snarled at him.

_SW: Oh come on! It was hilarious at first before we realized they were gonna need a huge flowing river on energon to survive. Tell him, or I will!_

_SS: Fine. They are my clutch, I laid them about a week ago. They were the same size they are now because seekers produce eggs while in our alt-mode._

That sounded right. He’d heard things about that, something about the size of the eggs being too large to pass through the narrow hips and valves on seekers. Not that he wanted to be thinking about anything huge stretching Starscream’s valve at the moment. Skywarp was starting to become his favorite because he cut in loudly and distracted Bee from that lurid thought.

_SW: You didn’t even tell him the funny part! Star got so heavy he started randomly dropping out of the sky when his thrusters gave out. But of course he was too stubborn to stop flying so Thundercracker and I had to keep catching him and carrying him around like a grounder._   

BB: Was that when you figured out he was carrying?

_SS: Yes as much as we all wanted to deny it, it had become glaringly obvious at that point. We spent the next few weeks developing my plans for a solar energon generator and trying to decide whether or not it was wise to seek assistance in stealing the parts._

_SW: Which led to my brilliant aft suggesting we take another trine mate! TC thought they should be a grounder as they would have an advantage here on Earth so then I suggested you! Starscream got hung up on the fact you’re an Autobot but we talked him around because I knew you would be exactly who we needed!_

Okay Skywarp was definitely his favorite now.

Not that Thundercracker, or even Starscream, had been particularly mean and threatening to him yet. Which was...not very Decepticon of them really. This whole experience had been very strange. On so many levels.

BB: Like I said before I’m going to be doing everything I can to help and I’d never hurt them. Your trust in me isn’t misplaced I promise.

The comm line fell quiet after that and Bee wondered what they were all thinking about or if perhaps they were having a wing conversation he couldn’t see. He focused on hum of the winding roads, up and up above the Pacific ocean, back towards the mountains.

It was dark again by the time he finally made it back to the mine entrance. He noticed his fuel tank was running low as his HUD glowed overlaid red warnings on the rocky pitch black tunnel.

Maybe they would let him have one of the propane tanks if they didn’t need it for the generators since he was running so low.

He drove through the mine in his alt-mode easily and then rolled up to the open partially lit cavern where all three seekers were waiting to greet him. He popped open his doors and transformed the seat away in order to gently pass the propane tanks out onto the ground around him. Starscream eagerly darted forward and started filling his hands with them before moving back towards the generators. Bumblebee transformed into his root mode and started emptying the items he had retrieved from his subspace. Thundercracker moved to start carrying things over towards the eggs and Bee grabbed a few chemical tanks to join him when he noticed Skywarp gazing at him hungrily. He made an inquiring chirp and red optics met his as a very warm EM field hit him.

Skywarp’s voice was low when he spoke to him in Neocybex. “I knew you could do it, I knew it’d be easy for you. You have no idea how slagging hot it is for us to have a provider. Only the most powerful and well off trines could afford one. War changed that but still there’s like this kinda prestige thing going on. It’s wickedly attractive is what I’m saying.”

Bee raised both optic ridges at that. He’d been called ‘cute’ more times than he could remember but, uh never ‘wickedly attractive’ that was hm, new.

His tank flip-flopped a little as Skywarp started to stalk closer to him. “Screamer might be busy right now but Thundercracker and I could definitely give you a big warm welcome to our trine now if you want.”

From the look on his face he suspected this ‘warm welcome’ would be far more friendly than a handshake. Not that Bee was entirely opposed to that.

In fact if he hadn’t been running on fumes he might have eagerly taken Skywarp up on that offer. It had been a while since he’d done any type of interfacing and the thought of doing stuff with more than one partner was definitely intriguing. As it was he had to politely decline. For now.

Frag, when he decided that he wanted to clang the Cons?

Ugh probably the moment he saw those eggs. Damn his annoyingly insistant carrier protocols. He had to admit though that all three of them were beautiful, in the way that all deadly graceful warframe flyers were.

Now wasn’t the time to think about that though.

Bee sighed heavily and chirred a regretful response at Skywarp in Vosian. “I uh, am sure that all three of you will have time to talk to me and welcome me properly into your trine later, after we’ve stabilized the clutch. Also I’m running on 13% charge with a fuel reserve of 2% so after I finish unloading all the equipment I’m gonna take a nap. Oh and could I have some of that propane or oil if you’ve got any please?”

All three seekers whipped around to look at him as he delicately set down the two chemical barrels he had been carrying next to the pile of equipment by the tarp hiding the eggs. He started to vocalize a question when all of a sudden there was a flurry of movement and yelling as they each grabbed a various limb of his and lifted him into the air between them. All his combat protocols screamed online and the only thing that stopped him from deploying them was listening to what they were saying.

“What the frag is wrong with you get him some fuel!”

“How was I supposed to know he was running low! His biolights weren’t flickering or dulling like ours do!”

“This is one of the things I warned you about, we need a crash course in Autobot anatomy and customs and we need it fast!”

After he managed to sort out what they were saying he let himself be carried over towards the shadows in the back of the cave. There some of the rock floor had been melted smooth and then piled high with soft natural fibers, grass, and stolen human linens. Just like a nest. Skywarp reached down behind one of the blanketed boundaries of the nest and retrieved what looked like a gasoline can. Thundercracker quickly sat and arranged Bumblebee in his lap, Bee pressed back up against his golden yellow cockpit, his legs draped over Thundercracker’s crossed ones.

Starscream kneeled down in front of him and snatched up his wrist, blue claws easily finding the manual release for his wrist intake. As soon the wrist intake’s funnel opened he motioned for Skywarp to start pouring the oil into it. He snarled at Skywarp when he started pouring it in too quickly and it overflowed a little bit. Bee just watched them both in fascination as they fed him. He was all too aware of Thundercracker’s large arms wrapped around his waist, holding him reassuringly against him while Starscream stroked his wrist around the intake absently.

Bee’s optics snapped to him as he spoke in a raspy Vosian chirr. “I apologize. It seems we’ve already proven bad trinemates towards you. You have performed your duties quickly and efficiently, having taken care of us. We did not do the same for you, which is an insult to your work and a mark of disgrace against us.”

Thundercracker’s arms tightened reassuringly around his waist as he leaned down and murmured in his audial from behind in formal Vosian. “Please accept our apology in any form of your choosing. We will endeavor to inquire about your energy levels and fueling from now on, but especially before and after any off base mission.”

He was suddenly aware of three sets of hands on him as Skywarp had emptied the oil can and was now massaging his other hand, pointed purple claws dipping into the joints in his palms lightly. Starscream closed the intake in his wrist and then bent down to kiss the panel as he shut it. Bee shivered and both seekers in front of him perked up, their wings twitching excitedly as their optics met his with interest. Bee suddenly knew exactly what they wanted to give him as an apology and his spark stuttered in his chest.

His clicks were weaker sounding than he would have liked when he addressed them. “Apology accepted then, no need to hmmm, do anything else. Starscream, don’t you need to get back to work on your device? If you need help with anything I’m decent at patchwork systems splicing and root binary code.”

Starscream’s optics narrowed shrewdly at him and he had a feeling of being sized up properly for the first time before Starscream shook a hand at him dismissively. “No, I’ll do fine without any help, you three will just slow me down. But since you’re not helping out I don’t see any reason why you can’t keep yourselves otherwise occupied. How is up to you.”

With a smirk he got up and hurried back to the comms array and started soldering something with a laser jet in his hand. Bee watched him go anxiously as he felt both Skywarp and Thundercracker’s EM fields surge to life around him, they were both thick and heavy, rubbing up against his plating invitingly. Yup he knew exactly what kind of apology, or uh thank you, they wanted to give him.

So before they could convince him otherwise he chirped apologetically. “As flattered as I am I’m going to have to say no for right now. I really am kind of exhausted and my head still hurts from earlier. Would it be alright if I just curled up here and went into recharge for a bit?”

Skywarp looked at him aghast and he imagined from his rippling EM field that Thundercracker was making a similarly alarmed expression.

He rumbled from behind Bumblebee. “Of course! Let us curl up with you and provide additional warmth and comfort.”

Skywarp nodded enthusiastically as Thundercracker lifted Bumblebee down onto his side on the floor of the nest, settling in front of him on his side while Thundercracker settled along his back. Both of them threw their arms over his hip and he found himself sandwiched between the two big jets. It was...good. Really good.

Sometimes he would cuddle up like this while moving bases with pockets of Autobots when they were vulnerable out in the open but he it didn’t happen as much as he liked. When he was a youngling in the hive all of them formed this big cuddle pile and that was when everyone slept the best. He could already feel recharge creeping up on him and Skywarp in front of him dimmed his red optics and smiled contentedly. Bee felt his claw scrape soft circles over his hip and tried not to shiver and push into the touch. It was light and there was no intention behind it, it just felt nice.

All three of their engines purred quietly as Skywarp murmured. “As much as TC likes to take his time, we could have given you a couple overloads before bed you know. You wouldn’t have had to do any of the work either, just laid back and enjoyed it. But I like this too. It’s been a while since all of us have properly snuggled. Screamer gets too hot if he’s in the middle but he complains if give him too much space on the edge. You feel just right though.”

With that he wiggled in closer to Bee’s front and laid his chin on the top of his head and sighed happily. Bee ex-vented lightly and then gave in, relaxing against both of them and offlining his optics. He was at about 65% fuel and when he woke he would have a full charge, everything would be alright, for now.

 

* * *

 

 

Bumblebee got the best recharge he’d had in over a million years.

Bee was a social bot, he had a lot of really wonderful friends, but they rarely cuddled with him. Charlie had actually been the first person to hold him comfortingly in years. She was human and she understood the importance of physical contact and comfort. His spark ached for her a bit before he remembered where he was.

He was in a warm slightly humming pile of seekers and honestly he hadn’t felt this at home since the hive. Bee tried not to think about it too much, the memories of his early life were more emotions than clear visions. They had made him feel safe, his hivemates, and for the most part he was well loved and taken care of. What little everyone had they shared and it was mostly quiet and warm inside the youngling creche. As he got older he saw what he was up against though.

As an Insecticon drone with a number for a name there wasn’t much of a place for him in the rigid caste system Cybertron operated under. He had been lucky, his form was more generic than some of his family’s frames, so he could get some minor grunt work outside the hive and take his meager energon ration back to all of his starving friends and family.

That’s how he had gotten a job as a courier that did eventually save his life when the Council passed the Disposable Reclamation Act. The exterminators came for the hives first, then the memory sticks, and finally the docks and the mines. The mines were where they hit a snag by the name of Megatron.

The Disposable Purge had been the first attack of the war and it had ignited wave after wave of civil unrest. Bumblebee found himself on the opposite side of his people at the beginning. He had hated it, hated himself for being too cowardly to go off and join the Decepticons, but after the death of the Senate and Zeta Prime, it became obvious that the Decepticons didn’t have the people’s best interest at spark either. And when Orion Pax became Optimus Prime Bee realized he was on the right side after all.

Optimus believed that the freedom to live vibrantly and prosper were the right of all sentient beings regardless of make or origin. He was the best of Cybertron and Bee would follow him to the ends of space time and back if he needed to. If anyone would understand the situation he now found himself in it would be Optimus. When he finally could catch a break from all this seeker nonsense he would comm him and they would have to have a long chat. He wasn’t looking forward to it exactly but he knew at least Optimus would be sympathetic. Prowl and even his superior in SpecOps, Jazz, he wasn’t so sure about. He’d essentially just become a gigantic security risk after all.

Bumblebee had been thoroughly enjoying being pressed down by a large weight across most of his frame. When he onlined his optics he realized with a start that it was Starscream. He had draped himself over Bee and slightly over Thundercracker and Skywarp where they were snuggled up against his sides. His face was so close to his own and his optics were offline, so Bee really looked at him and he seemed...young and strangely peaceful. Some of his shock must have registered in his field because Starscream’s optics flickered online and he glared at Bee blearily like it was him who was on top of him not the other way around.

Bumblebee smiled and chirupped quietly. “Skywarp said you hated being in the middle, that you overheated easily. Is this better for you then?”

Starscream narrowed his glowing red optics and grumbled. “It’s passable. What about you, you look suspiciously comfortable for such a small bot buried under three seekers.”

Bee clicked a chittering laugh and that woke up Skywarp and Thundercracker who shifted against him, Skywarp mumbled and nuzzled in closer against his right shoulder pauldron. Starscream rolled his optics and then took his hand and ran it over Bee’s chest lightly, claws catching momentarily in the transformation seams there.

It sent a little thrill through his spark and Starscream smirked, his voice a raspy huffing chirp. “Yes. Extremely suspicious. If I didn’t know better I’d say you liked this. Liked us.”

Bee wanted to argue with him but there was no point. He did enjoy doing this, even doing this with them. It would be a blatant lie to say otherwise. He was still looking at Starscream when he saw both Skywarp’s and Thundercracker’s heads come up slowly to look at them out of his peripheral vision.

Bee’s clicks were steady and honest and he stared intently at Starscream. “I do. I’m as suspicious and surprised as you are, but I do. I haven’t slept this well in a long time.”

Something unreadable flashed through Starscream’s optics for a flicker before his smirk returned and he leaned up, pushing up off of his chest to lazily straddle his hips.

Thundercracker and Skywarp’s fields were pushing up against his again with that thrumming heat from last night.

Starscream grinned wickedly down at the lovely scene below him before deigning to comment on it. “Is that so? Well then, now that you’re so well rested, what do you say to letting us give you a proper introduction to our trine?”

Bee let his engine rumble and all three seekers tittered light laughs. But he had one worry before he let this, probably very enjoyable thing, happen.

He furrowed his brow and chirped curiously. “What about the energon processor? How are the eggs? I don’t want to distract you from taking care of them.”

All three of their fields around him throbbed with admiration and Starscream’s smile lost some of its edge. “I finished it a few hours ago and it’s currently producing the first batch now that the sun has risen. We already had all the solar panels set up and hidden on the other side of the mountain we just needed the chemical components. It should be ready in about six hours at which point I will have to step out of the proceedings and hook up the nozzles to start feeding the energon into the pool around the eggs but I’ll come back after then.”

It was relief that the eggs were going to be okay, they had done it! Well Starscream had been doing the most work on all fronts but it felt good to have helped regardless. Then his processor caught as the words sunk in a little bit more.

Bee’s optics flickered uncertainly, as he clicked dubiously. “Wait did you say you’d come back? That means we’d still uh, be in the berth after six hours?”

Again all three of them laughed but this time in a throaty series of chuckles. Skywarp’s field was practically giddy with lust as he spoke excitedly. “Oh lil’ bug you’ve never fragged a trine before have you? You have no idea what you’re in for.”

Both Starscream and Thundercracker nodded and Bee just swallowed his spark that had somehow lodged in his intake. Scrap.

Well with the eggs currently safe it wasn’t like he had anything super pressing to do for the next, hm, six plus hours. It wasn’t like he could comm back to base to let Prowl know he was alright without spending all that time trying to explain why he was now bonded to a seeker trine of Decepticons, and oh did he mention there were eggs. The first eggs in eons. Yeah that was one of those conversations he wasn’t looking forward to having.

Plus this would be a good productive way to spend his time, they would bond over this right? That was the whole point of having an hours long processor melting fragfest. He certainly wasn’t looking forward to facing’ anyone other than his own hands for the first time in thousands of years. Nope. He wasn’t super eager and turned on because of that. Oh, only that anyway.  

Bee chirped and it sounded more assured than he felt. “You’re right. Why don’t you show me?”

He let his field ripple with a pleasant vibration against all of theirs and suddenly he had three pairs of clawed hands roving hungrily all over his frame. Someone was dipping into the seams of his shoulders, another pair of hands was crawling under the plating at his hips, and Starscream. He was staring down at Bee, red optics locked onto blue as he swooped down and licked a line of Bee’s neck cables.

Now there were mouths along with all those hands and frag if he wasn’t rocketing towards an overload already. The sensations were overwhelming his systems rapidly and he couldn’t find any reason to fight them, everything was a rising buzz of pleasure. Starscream’s fingers were delving under his bumper, they found a tangled cluster of cables and deftly smoothed them out, Bee let out a hiss and he touched those cables again. Rougher this time and Bee arched up against him.

Skywarp mumbled against his shoulder where he was licking into the cabling between it and his neck. “Do that again Screamer, His field is so fluttery when you do.”

Starscream hummed thoughtfully and bit down on his neck while tugging those internal cables and Bee spat a string of screeching static. Thundercracker was sucking on his fingers and massaging his wrist where the intake panel was and he hummed in satisfaction. It was so much. Bee felt static charge building around his body, fizzling and flicking between the points of contact he was making with all three of their frames.

Everyone’s fields surged with desire. His optics offlined as he overloaded with a wail of his horn, the sound echoing loudly in the cavern. Bee would have been embarrassed he had overloaded so quickly except he felt their fields enfold him and prolong his charge, coaxing the overload out longer. The thing was it didn’t end so much as it did plateau. His charge was still high when he onlined his optics to see three very interested faces staring down at him in anticipation. Then they moved and suddenly Starscream’s hips were flush with his.  

His Vosian was a low rasp as Skywarp nuzzled against the plating where his wings met his back and Thundercracker licked into the crook of his neck. “Now that you’re warmed up which should we play with first, spike or valve? Orrrr perhaps both?”

Before he could properly think he chirped. “Both!”

All three of them grinned ferally at him and Starscream purred. “Of course. Anything for our new _protector/mate._ Although we’re going to have to work you up to what I have in mind.”

He must have given some sort of indication with his wings or internal comms because Skywarp and Thundercracker moved in tandem. Skywarp settling behind Starscream, in between Bee’s knees, he smirked at him over Starscream’s wings and Thundercracker moved behind Bee. He carefully lifted his head and shoulders into his lap. Starscream stayed straddling his hips, then moved down a little further slipping down in between his thighs.

Bee hissed at the sound of his panel transforming away to reveal a long black and red spike. Thundercracker lifted him up closer back against his own stomach and hips so Bee could see exactly what was going on between his own legs. Primus.

Starscream pumped his slim spike with a blue hand lazily while his wings twitched in pleasure under Skywarps mouth. Bee’s spark was spinning hard in his chest. He’d never seen anything like this before and he was pretty sure they all knew that and were trying to put on a damn good show.

He felt Thundercracker vent softly against the top of his head and then his glossa was playing with Bumblebee’s antennae. Oh. His entire frame went rigid and he felt Thundercracker’s mouth smile against his antennae. He then shivered and went deliciously limp as he felt Starscream rub his spike slowly against the gap between his hip and array panel.

It felt like being suspended, taught and winding, between two furnaces of pleasure. He couldn’t move because he wasn’t sure which direction he wanted to push towards more. It wasn’t a conscious command so much as a surrender as he transformed his paneling away and revealed his very wet valve and his spike, which pressurized fully almost instantly.

He jerked as he felt Thundercracker pull off his antennae abruptly with a wet pop. His usually perfect Vosian was rough and hoarse when he spoke. “I call first time riding him.”

Skywarp snorted and Starscream rolled his optics but he was smiling. When he spoke it was soft and surprisingly playful. “Now that is up to our lovely Bee, although I can certainly see the appeal. It is quite...thick.”

If all of their spikes were similar to Starscream’s: long, thin, tapered, and elegant, then his spike would be a change of pace for them for certain. He knew it was nothing too spectacular but he liked it, thank you very much. It wasn’t long but it was thick and black with glowing blue biolights running up the sides. It was even wider at the base and the few partners he had never really wanted to fully sheath themselves over him, which was fine. But from the sounds of it that wouldn’t be a problem this time. Sweet Solus. He was so screwed in the best possible way.

Bee swallowed hard before chirring. “You’re really good with your mouth Thundercracker, put it to good use first, then you can ride me.”

Starscream’s smile was incandescent as he motioned for Thundercracker to come to him. They all shifted as Thundercracker arranged Bee’s head and shoulders gently against the edge of the nest before moving to his left side and leaning over towards Starscream. They kissed and Bee watched with wide optics as their glossa slid sloppily over and into each other’s lips.

Sometimes he really wished he had a mouth.

Thundercracker broke the kiss and started trailing little kisses and nips down Starscream’s chest, then to his red hips, and finally a long slow lick along the tip of his spike. It twitched slightly and Bee almost jerked when he felt his own mirror the movement. Thundercracker smiled at the sight and took the top of Bee’s spike into his mouth.

Starscream planted his hand heavily on Thundercracker’s helm as the other seeker sucked lightly on Bee’s spike, then addressed him haughtily. “He loves to use his mouth, which you seem to have already figured out, but what you don’t know yet is how _good_ I am with mine. He also prefers his valve so it seems like you’re pleasing him quite well today.”

“Now I know I said this was all about you but I have a request. You see, I’d love to bury my spike in you right now while Skywarp does the same to me from behind but I could wait until Thundercracker sinks down onto you and instead taste your valve while he sucks on your spike. What would you prefer?”

Primus. What would he prefer? All of it, everything, oh this was...yeah. He could get used to this.

Everyone’s cooling fans were whining and the whole nest was hot, damp, and humid from all four of their frames practically dripping coolant and lubricant. He was so out of his depth he was drowning in sensation but it felt too damn good to stop.

Bee chirped weakly. “I can wait. Use your mouth first.”

Starscream nodded magnanimously and slid back further, Skywarp complained a little as he was pushed backwards but then shut up with he was promptly presented with Starscream’s raised aft. Starscream kissed wetly into the silver protomesh folds of his valve as if it were Thundercracker’s mouth and Bee spat a stream of clicks and static.

Thundercracker hummed and took his spike deeper into his intake and Bee whined as he tried to buck up against both their mouths. Skywarp was putting his mouth to work as well and he must have done something nice with it because he felt Starscream’s mouth gasp against his valve lips. Wow. That was...he suddenly wanted to hardline with all three of them very badly.

To be able to feel the sensations of everyone right now would have driven him into multiple overloads he was sure. His processor was running hot like the rest of him and trying to focus was hard but he knew what he wanted now. With shaking servos he released the medical port in his side and started to unspool his cable.

Skywarp actually noticed the movement first and pulled off of Starscream, his mouth and cheeks slick with lubricant. His grin was all teeth as he spoke. “Oh look Screamer he wants to cross cables too. That would be...enlightening for him I think.”

Starscream pulled away from his valve and Bee was surprised about how reluctant he seemed to do it, like he was thoroughly enjoying licking and kissing him there. He raised a brow ridge at Bumblebee’s hand holding his cable shakily and sighed sitting up. As soon as he did, two covers on either side of his golden cockpit popped open to reveal six different ports. Bees eyes widened at that and he watched in awe as Thundercracker and Skywarp handed him their cables and he jacked them into his chest. Very carefully he took Bumblebee’s and played with the tip of the jack in between his fingers, before kissing it lightly and then plugging it into his chest as well.

His spark spun dizzily at the sight and his whole frame sung as he plugged into Starscream. It was...not what he’d been expecting.

In fact, it was better than anything he had ever felt before. There was the flood of sensory information from three other bodies, feeling his spike being sucked and also like he was sucking spike was...hot. Damn. There really weren’t words for the layers of physical sensation they were feeding into him but he was also getting emotional subroutines from all of them. And Starscream was doing something, filtering it somehow in pulses and waves. Throbs of heat and affection were washing up from the tips of his feet to his antennae, and honestly he was kinda impressed with himself for not overloading immediately at the feeling.

He felt Thundercracker’s absolute joy at deep throating his spike as he worked his mouth down it slowly and Skywarp’s impatience as he toyed with Starscream’s wings again. And Starscream, he was, well he was thoroughly enjoying the whole tableau before him as he played with his blue clawed fingers shallowly in and out of Bumblebee’s valve. Bumblebee shook with the force of his overload slamming through the hardline connections, all four of them arched back and cried out as the charge ramped up and multiplied through all of their frames.

He kept his optics wide open through sheer force of will as he watched all three of them shudder, their wings undulating in pleasure, mouths open and gasping. If his systems weren’t already venting the maximum amount of heat that sight would have increased it. He felt a large lick of satisfaction through the hardline as he thought that. Oh right they could...well no point in hiding what he wanted.

Bee flashed them an eager image of Thundercracker riding his spike while Starscream thrust into Bee and Skywarp thrust into Starscream. He received a loud “ **YES** ” through the hardline and all three of them started to move in a flurry of brightly colored arms and wings.

Starscream got into position first, kneeling and widening his thighs apart so Skywarp could get his hips up against him. He didn’t wait and he sunk into Starscream’s valve easily, all four of them felt the penetration and squirmed. Starscream snapped at him through the hardline, something about waiting his turn, but Skywarp just pouted and ground his hips up against Starscream’s aft and everyone moaned a little and forgot why they were frustrated with him.

Starscream shuddered and grabbed Bee’s thighs, cradling his knees up over his elbows and sunk into him in one slow thrust. Bee’s hands scrabbled at the soft foam and plastic scraps of the nest’s floor, he couldn’t really move his hips in his strong grip as his spike hit the deeper nodes inside his valve. When it hit one at the back of his valve he felt his spike twitch as well. Starscream was practically shaking as he looked down at Bee, his optics a dark maroon.

Thundercracker was the last one to get into position and he almost hit Starscream in the face with his wings in his excitement. Again that flare of annoyance from him but it was drowned out by amusement from Skywarp and affection from Bumblebee and Thundercracker.

Thundercracker’s thighs stretched over Bee’s hips and his shins hit the floor on either side of them. He planted one hand in the middle of Bee’s stomach and then reared up before lowering himself onto Bee’s spike, inch by inch. He felt Skywarp and Starscream’s spikes pulse in sympathy with his own and Bee whined, his engine turning over with a cough as Thundercracker’s hips hit his, his spike buried all the way inside him. He had a dazed expression on his face but the only emotion coming through the hardline was a deep smug satisfaction. Bee moved his hands lightly to rest on Thundercracker’s hips, urging him to move but it was Starscream who thrust into his valve with a quick snap instead.

The two of them started a torturous rhythm, Starscream pushing into him as Thundercracker rose up and almost let his spike slip from his valve, back and forth building their charge back up. Skywarp slightly threw off the push and pull of the current by overloading hard into Starscream’s valve, all four of them gasped at the feel of hot transfluid filling them up. But it seemed like the other two seekers were expecting that because they didn’t follow him over the edge.

Bee did but the overload was quick and violent. It left him feeling as if he almost hadn’t had one. The charge was still there and thrumming quickly through the hardline between all four of them.

Skywarp slipped out of Starscream and started to kiss and suck at his ailerons instead as he and Thundercracker kept fragging Bee. On the down thrust Thundercracker ground his anterior node against Bee’s panel faring and he overloaded with a shout. Starscream growled as his thrusts became faster, harder and more erratic. Bee must have overloaded as well because he clicked quietly, feeling his own blue tinted transfluid spurt up into Thundercracker and run down his thighs onto both their hip plating.

Starscream shoved Thundercracker up and off Bee’s slick spike and pulled him towards him tighter, practically folding him in half as he thrust up into him. Bumblebee’s hands flew to the back of his neck, pulling him in even closer as Starscream fragged him desperately into the berth. He could feel the other two watching them with adoration and still some heat.

The thought “Mine” followed quickly by “ **Ours** ” echoed through the hardline and Bee’s broken vocalizer wailed with static and metal parts grating on metal as he overloaded so hard he blacked out. He must have only been out a few seconds as he rebooted to Starscream shouting and spilling slightly pink tinted transfluid deep inside him. Bee shuddered at the sensation of it filling him up, aftershocks and maybe another small overload made his vents stutter as Starscream pressed their helms together.

He could have said it through the hardline connection, instead he spoke out loud, low and gravelly in Neocybex. “Welcome to the trine Bumblebee. We’re very pleased to have you.”

He felt Skywarp and Thundercracker echo the sentiment back as well and Bee smiled and sent back his response through the hardline as he didn’t trust his mouth to be able to make the right clicks.

_I’m happy to be here._

Sometime later they disconnected from the hardlines, all of them were touching him still, cleaning him up, kissing and licking at every inch of plating they could get their mouths on without bumping into each other.

It was like being worshipped. He was floating in a languid daze, their fields keeping his charge at a steady hum after, what, six or seven overloads? Primus.

Starscream left at some point, probably to hook up the energon nozzle to the egg tub. While he was gone, for however long that was, Skywarp and Thundercracker had decided they wanted to feel his valve as well. Starscream returned to the sight of him sandwiched up between Thundercracker and Skywarp’s chests them up on their knees holding Bee, both their spikes grinding and sliding against each other as they thrust into his leaking valve.

Skywarp was at his front and he got his hand to stroke around his short, thick spike while Thundercracker was mouthing at his antennae again. He was trapped between them and could only hiss and click helplessly in pleasure.

His optics flickered to the side as he watched Starscream lean back against the edge of the nest and he spread his legs wide, pumping his spike into his hand and playing with the folds of his dark black valve as he watched his trinemates frag. That included Bee. Primus they were all his, and he was theirs.

He overloaded again and it felt like he was shaking apart. Starscream watched him and laughed at the expression on his face. Skywarp swore as he buried himself as deep inside Bee as could with Thundercracker’s spike also there and overloaded into Bee. That seemed to do it for Thundercracker as well and Bee could feel both their transfluid filling him up and dripping in thick globs down all three of their thighs. They both carefully laid him down on his back between them and they curled around him, much like the position they had started in. Starscream approached then and loomed over him.

There was something else he wanted. They could all feel the edge of it in their fields. Instantly Bee knew what it was and he transformed away his chest plating to reveal his bright blue spark. Thundercracker and Skywarp visibly jumped and then peered down to look at his spark.

Skywarp murmured some slurred Vosian chirps. “Oh wow. It’s so pretty and blue. Like your optics.”

Thundercracker nodded and agreed in his lilting chir. “Beautiful. Truly, a wondrous sight.”

Starscream didn’t speak, he stared down at Bee’s spark pensively, the blue light from it casting long shadows over his dark gray face. Bumblebee was nervous for a second that he had misunderstood what Starscream was after. They were all sparkbonded, he knew enough about trines to know that, so he had assumed they would want to bind to him as well. He could have been wrong though.

Then he watched in stunned silence as Starscream revealed his own brightly humming green spark. He knew sparks came in different colors, though he had never seen one that shade of yellow green. Teal, or turquoise, or even matrix blue like Bee’s, but never the glowing green of Earth’s trees and grass. It was beautiful.

As Starscream knelt between his legs he chirred softly, nothing words of encouragement, as he slid his spike into Bee again. He wordlessly arched up towards him as his spike hit his ceiling node and Starscream pushed their two chests together.

He grabbed Bee’s lower back and held them tightly together as they merged. Their sparks at first clashing and then slowly sampling each other’s coronas before beginning to rotate together, suspended perfectly between their two chests. It was everything.

He felt so much in a rush of emotion and memory and any doubts he had about this situation burned away. He let Starscream have all that he was and was rewarded with Starscream as well as Skywarp and Thundercracker. They were all bonded so when he did this to Bee they felt the thrumming echoes of it as well.

Starscream’s spark was feeding him raw emotional data and it was too much for him to analyze in the moment. He caught flashes of concern, contentment, and respect. There was genuine gratitude and affection there as well. All things his side seemed convinced that Decepticons couldn’t feel. He knew better now and asked if they wouldn’t forgive him for thinking that way in the past. Bee felt raw, like his plating was suddenly transparent and thin. Starscream could see straight through him and Bumblebee knew it would break his spark to disappoint them. To come up wanting again. Always someone’s backup choice.

That didn’t happen. Starscream accepted him wholly and he felt both Skywarp and Thundercracker there enveloping him as well. He felt lubricant leak from his optics and when he focused on Starscream’s shocked face in front of his own he was crying as well. Bee leaned up and pressed his mouthplate to Starscream’s lips softly and they both spiralled together into a buoyant overload. Their sparks beating and swirling as one.

Starscream’s arms were shaking as he pulled back from Bumblebee’s spark and transformed his own cockpit back into place. Even though their sparks were separated he now felt the tug of the bond between them solidify and shivered. He would never feel lonely again.

As soon as Bee sleepily closed his own chest plating all three of them were on him again. Petting and stroking him reassuringly, cooing and chirping at him softly as they rearranged him comfortably between them and cleaned up his absolutely wrecked array.

He was going to feeling that for days, wow. He felt the faint ghosting of their amusement through the bond and smiled. Starscream snuggled in on top of him again and Thundercracker and Skywarp nuzzled in against his shoulders, their faces on either side of his neck.

Bee chirupped softly. “Thank you. Are the eggs well?”

They all startled at that. He felt their surprise and then a smothering answer of affection and gratitude. Skywarp muttered aloud. “No, thank you. Seriously. Star got the drip running and they’re glowing brighter already. We can go sit with them together for awhile after we recharge.”

 Bee’s spark glowed at hearing “we” and then all three of them were petting him again. He felt their wonder at being so lucky as to have found him through the bond and it made him ache. Emotionally, the rest of him also ached but that was different. Amusement drifted through the bond again at that as fell into recharge fast. Everything was going to be okay.

__

* * *

 

 

Bumblebee had felt off for the last couple of weeks.

After having several long, involved, conversations with Autobot High Command Optimus had suggested that all four of them, and the four eggs, come back to base. That suggestion resulted in a lot more uncomfortable conversations, some screeching, mostly from Starscream, and eventually he and the seekers had moved in together onto the Autobot base. An abandoned military installation in Southern Baja California. Arcee and Ironhide had helped Thundercracker and Skywarp move the solar panels for the energon processor, that was part of the deal they struck, immunity in exchange for the technology.

They had also gotten ahold of Soundwave and negotiated a temporary ceasefire on Earth. They were all still hammering out the details but Optimus was pushing for making Earth a neutral territory for both factions. It was fraught, he felt like he was being tugged at by both sides, almost torn down the middle.

None of the Autobots had come out and said it to his face, that he was compromised now because of his bonding, but they were not very good at hiding the thought in their fields. And his trine desperately wanted him to side with them on every single issue. It was hard to navigate when they were swamping him with their emotions through the bond and he felt bad for clamping down on the connection sometimes. Not letting them in as much as he could. All four of them were unhappy with that.

He thought it might be all the stress making him tired and nauseous so he didn’t mention it to anyone. It didn’t seem important. When they had first moved onto the base Bee had slept in his old quarters, that hadn’t lasted very long though.

Bee missed being cuddled up with them in a pile in their nest of blankets and cushions. He didn’t see any reason to deny them all that comfort regardless of appearances. It wasn’t like everyone on base didn’t know what he had done already. He had also needed to recharge more than usual. His fuel efficiency had been all over the place, which might have explained the nausea, and it was making him lethargic. He tried not to let it show much as they were all so on edge now.

Bumblebee also felt strangely heavy. Like his center of gravity was off, sometimes it made him sway on his feet, and he had to look for somewhere to sit down quickly or he might have fallen over.

When he looked down at himself he couldn’t be sure but maybe the extra weight was settling in his protoform around his hips and thighs? He didn’t look that different but something was not the same. He was trying not to think about it much because it wasn’t nearly as important as negotiating a faction ceasefire and making sure his mates were settling in well.

There had been a kerfuffle the first couple days there around refueling as the trine was used to just eating whenever and whatever they felt like. Whereas on the base there were mealtimes and set fuel rations meted out for everyone. The trine hadn’t understood it wasn’t a slight to not allow them to eat when they felt like it. Bee had to soothe egos on both sides after that and then several more similar incidents after that.

Although it wasn’t all misunderstandings and bad reactions. Starscream and Wheeljack had been working together on making an incubation unit for the eggs and increasing the range and productivity of the solar energon processor.

Bee had officially been put on leave. Which he understood as his old position was in SpecOps. Now that wasn’t really teniable anymore as he had an active sparkbond with multiple Decepticons.

Not that that would matter for much longer hopefully. Optimus was trying very hard to end the war. Megatron had disappeared several thousand years ago and hadn’t been heard from since. Shockwave and Soundwave had been leading the Decepticon forces since then and both of them seemed to have different ideas on what the faction’s true goals were at this point.

There was an air of hope around base and a lot of his friends seemed happier than they had been in years. Even if most of them were visibly wary around Bumblebee and the trine for now.

All four of them were relaxing in their room, it was one of the largest hangers on base and Starscream had set up the egg incubation laboratory on one end. Their collected nest of soft things on the other side, along with some chairs and a comms array with a vid screen in between. It was nice, he felt relaxed here and some of the tension eased from his struts when all of their fields bumped up against his humming contentedly. He was dosing sitting up in the nest, his optics a dim blue when something pinched in his stomach. It hurt.

He shifted uncomfortably and tried stand and almost fell over. Skywarp and Thundercarker had been playing some sort of human game on the vid screen of the comms array, a little yellow mouth eating up a bunch of small yellow circles.

But they were closest and noticed the pain in his field immediately. Alarmed they both bolted up from their chairs and whipped around to look at him. He vented raggedly as he tried to stay standing and failed, the pain was a rippling squeezing stab in the center of his stomach. His knees hit the cement floor of the hanger bay with a hollow clunk and that got Starscream’s attention. His field lashed out and came up against the alarm in Skywarp’s and Thundercracker’s fields the pain in Bee’s and he jumped up and started to hurry over to where Bumblebee was now kneeling curled in on himself in pain.

Skywarp was the first to touch him as he ran his purple claws over Bee’s shoulder plating. His voice was tinged with concern while he murmured. “Hey. Hey, what is it? Tell us what’s wrong?”

Bee gasped as he felt a strange sort of pressure building low in his hips. He clicked helplessly. “I don’t know! I haven’t been feeling well since we moved onto the base but I thought it was just anxiety and I didn’t want to worry any of you more than necessary as you have way more to adjust to here than I do and-”

Starscream cut him off, his field pulsing in righteous indignation, not directed at Bee, as he sent only sympathy and concern through the bond. “Those pit slagged Autobots and their judgmental  _ moralizing _ ! We knew they were giving you a hard time, we could feel it but there was nothing we could do about it. And then you’re also a moralizing self-sacrificing Autobot so you didn’t tell us you were suffering, were feeling unwell. We should have known though, we should have-”

Starscream stopped his rant as Bee’s engine whined and the pressure in his hips built to an almost unbearable level. Something broke open inside of him, spilling a rush of silvery liquid past his array panel, to gush out the edges down onto the floor. Bee’s alarm and panic spiked up as nothing like that had ever happened to him before. He felt it mirrored in the bond but also there was a sudden reassured wave of knowing.

Starscream’s mouth was hanging open as he stared down at the silvery puddle forming between Bumblebee’s knees. His voice was barely above a whisper. “He’s in the middle of an emergence. But how!? He’s not a flightframe, shouldn’t he have been locked in his alt-mode if he was carrying?”

Skywarp was still touching Bee’s shoulder and he sprang into action, carefully gathering him in his arms and rushing him back towards the berth. He called to Thundercracker over his shoulder. “Go get that cranky Autobot medic, uh Ratchet right? We’re gonna need him, um, real soon.”

Thundercracker was already running out the side door of the hanger by the time Skywarp finished speaking. Starscream was still staring at him, his field a roiling mess of too many emotions as he muttered. “He’s a forged mech. They can’t lay eggs, how?”

Skywarp was darting around the nest grabbing pieces of fabric and foam that he felt were the right consistency and piling them up around Bee’s back and hips. He barked a tight laugh at Starscream as he did it. “Really Screamer? You merged with him, you should know better than that! He said so himself he wasn’t from the ‘nice’ part of Polyhex, he’s got antennae for pit’s sake. He’s an Insecticon! They’re much better at laying large clutches than even us seekers and their eggs are a lot smaller so they lay them in root mode. That’s why the Senate was so keen to massacre them all in their hives in the name of ‘population control.’”

That seemed to jolt Starscream out of whatever stupor the realization that Bee was in labor had put him in and he practically sprinted over to his side, grabbing his hand immediately. Skywarp huffed and finished arranging some more cushioning under Bee’s hips before taking his other hand and nuzzling the side of his throat with his face.

Another spasm clenched down hard and Bee opened his valve cover with a whine, more silvery fluid trickling out onto the berth. He had never done this before, he wasn’t sure what it was supposed to feel like. He sent the panic and fear he felt through the bond and all three of them tried to reassure him.

Skywarp whispered elated encouragement and praise in his audial. “You’re doing great! Everything is going to be fine, you’re so strong, you can do this! We’re right here, we won’t let anything happen to your or the little ones. You’re so amazing already giving us sparklings. Frag Bee we’re so happy, it’s an honor, really.”

He felt the agreement with Skywarp’s words through the bond and then Starscream was speaking in his other audial. It was somber and sincere where Skywarp’s was excited. “I am sorry. We failed you again. It is...frustrating to be unable to fully understand your needs and take care of you, please let us. Please tell us when you are hurting, when you are frustrated and tired. Don’t shut us out. All this time we should have been lavishing you with attention, affection, gifts, our energon rations. You are carrying our young and we didn’t know, and worse we didn’t take care of you like we were supposed to.”

“I understand if you can’t forgive us. After this if you wish to take your eggs and leave us I understand. As an equal to me, the trineleader in the bond, it is your right to choose such a thing and I would not blame you if you did. We have failed you several times already when all you have done for us is your very best.”

Bee immediately shouted  **“NO!”** through the bond so forcefully both Starscream and Skywarp flinched. He was not calm, or in an emotionally stable state right now. He was in pain and terrified that something would go wrong and he would accidentally kill one of the sparklings, or all of them, as he just then realized there was probably more than one egg inside him right now.

He ground the metal under his mouth plate as he chirred. “I’m not used to being taken care of, I’ll do my best to tell you how I feel from now on. Please, please don’t make me leave. I want to stay here with all of you and raise all our sparklings together.”

Both Starscream and Skywarp, and through the bond Thundercracker, hugged him fiercely surrounding him with a giant bubble of love. They loved him and they loved the bitlets he was about to bring into the world. And for a beat everything was fine. Nothing hurt and none of it mattered except what they all felt for each other, which was a fierce sort of love.

The love of a family. He finally knew where he belonged.

And then the pain and squeeze of emergence was back and he was panting and sputtering through his vents and both of his mates were helping hold his knees up and apart with their hands that weren’t holding his tightly as he felt the pressure building unbearably again.

Wordlessly he whined as he squeezed both their hands hard enough to flake off paint.

He wasn’t pushing yet, he knew enough not to push yet but Primus it was so much. He’d never done this before, was not expecting to do this today of all times and yet it was happening whether he was ready or not.

Ratchet burst through the door so hard it almost flew off the hinges as he rushed in towards all three of them in the nest. Thundercracker hot on his heels in pursuit.

When he got close enough to what was happening he immediately pointed at Starscream and yelled. “What in Primus’s name were you thinking not telling me you sparked him up!? Let me guess, you characteristically, weren’t thinking!”

Starscream’s field flared with indignation and he sneered. He was about to say something cutting to Ratchet. Thundercracker instantly warned him with harrowing look though the bond that he really, really, didn’t want to be rude to Ratchet right now.

So he bit down on it and replied at levelly as he could between gritted denta. “None of us knew, not even him, until his emergence started. Thundercracker came to fetch you as soon as we understood what was happening.”

Ratchet’s blue glare at Starscream was murderous as he settled between Bumblebees legs and began to upack supplies and a scanner from his subspace. He grumbled. “The second clutch of eggs in three million years and none of you silly bird-brained fraggers could tell? Not when you had just laid the first such clutch a month ago?”

Starscream bared his fangs at Ratchet but Ratchet just waved him away angrily before turning to meet Bumblebee’s anxious optics.

His voice was low and soothing as he waved a scanner over his hips, checking the readouts meticulously. “Everything is going to be okay now that I’m here alright Bee? I take it this is your first clutch right? You’re fairly young so it’ll be a small one, the scanners are telling me there’s eight little ones in there right now. We’ll get em’ all out safe and sound together, alright?”

Bee nodded shakily. Skywarp, Starscream, and now Thundercracker, snuggled against him comfortingly. Thundercracker settled in behind Bee, kneeling and wrapping his arms around all three bots in front of him. Ratchet eyed them cautiously but even he could tell their fields were having a calming effect on Bumblebee and what was good for Bee would be good for the eggs as well.

Another tight clench had him shaking and Ratchet leaned down and asked him if he could look inside him with an instrument and Bee nodded shakily before he felt him do it.

Ratchet didn’t linger down there and he looked back up at Bumblebee with a small smile. “You’re almost there, you’re doing well for your first time. It’ll be much easier after you lay the first couple of eggs and if you ever decide to have another clutch your body will be configured for it better and it shouldn’t hurt. It’ll be uncomfortable and exhausting as there will be more eggs in subsequent clutches but it shouldn’t hurt much, if at all.”

He then turned to the seekers and glared. ”Speaking of which all of you are getting scramblers and baffle coding after this, you can turn it off when you’re ready to have another clutch but we’re not having any more ‘accidental’ sparklings around here is that clear!?”

Skywarp snickered, Starscream rolled his optics, and Thundercracker looked suitably resigned, but they all nodded in agreement and their fields felt genuinely contrite. Which seemed to make Ratchet even more suspicious but then something twisted inside Bee and he tensed and cried out in a mix of static and scraping metal. Everyone was fussing over him again. Ratchet doing scans and muttering to himself as Bee’s trine trilled over him, petting and soothing him with their fields and Thundercracker’s free hands.

Ratchet met Bee’s cloudy blue optics with determination as he spoke. “That was just the first egg settling into position, you’re fully dilated now. On the next contraction you can push if you’re ready. Remember after the first one it only gets easier, you can do this.”

Bumblebee nodded limply as he felt the next wave of pressure building and when it clamped down he pushed as hard as he could and almost blacked out. Ratchet’s scanner beeped alarmingly loudly and he started swearing profusely before pointing at Starscream angrily. “He’s iron, zinc, and copper deficient because he hasn’t been refueling properly for his condition! He needs med-grade, do you have any!? I can send someone to bring some from the medbay but it might not be soon enough, he needs a drip now or he’s going to drop into stasis the next time he tries to push!”

Starscream’s lips thinned grimly and his hand tightened on Bee’s like a vice as he sent a message to Thundercracker and the other seeker rose instantly and ran towards the incubation laboratory across the room, dug through one of the cabinets frantically before running back over, his hands full of several bags of sterile purple medgrade energon. Ratchet wasted no time running a line through the pipes in Bumblebee’s chest and hanging the energon bag on pole and hook he pulled hastily from his subspace.

Skywarp looked at him impressed. “What else you got in there medic, a berth and some privacy screens? Are you just a walking examination room?”

Ratchet scowled at him but didn’t deign to answer him, instead he turned to Thundercracker. “Can you go get a shallow container for the eggs with a little energon in the bottom, it’ll be more safe to carry them over to the incubator all at once rather than running across this cold hanger waving them around in your fist frantically one at a time.”

Thundercracker nodded once and then hurried back across the hanger again while Ratchet mumbled something about doing this in medbay next time.

The medgrade was helping, he felt less exhausted. Though he was still scared to push so when the next contraction came he didn’t, instead he suffered through it and shook. Both Starscream and Skywarp held him tighter and sent comfort and encouragement through the bond.

Ratchet watched him with concern written on his lined silver face as he spoke. “The medgrade should be helping as I wired it in directly into your fuel pump and the surrounding lines. On the next contraction you can push. I promise you’re in good hands.”

Then he seemed to hesitate before adding. “I hate to admit it but you’re in multiple sets of good hands. Don’t let it go to your already swollen heads but I can tell you three are good to him.”

Skywarp tucked his chin to his chest and smiled and even Starscream puffed up a little under Ratchet’s praise as Thundercracker returned with the bowl grinning widely. Bumblebee only relaxed for a moment before he went tense as the next heavy, throbbing squeeze started. Thundercracker quickly moved back behind him to offer support and Bee bore down hard against the hands holding his legs and pushed.

It hurt like nothing he’d ever experienced before, it felt like he was being split in two, it was so big and firm and slick. Shockingly slick that only one solid push had moved it down his valve to its entrance. It burned and pulled and it hurt but he could tell it was almost out. Now that he wasn’t about to go into stasis lock he felt like he could do this. Or least he felt more like he could do this.

Ratchet had his hands out against the sides of his valve as he could see the egg stretching his opening out as well. He was looking at egg and not Bee as he spoke encouragement. “One more good push and the first one will be out. You’re doing a great job, especially for someone who hid the fact that he didn’t feel well for weeks and went into a surprise emergence without proper fueling and supplement protocols.”

Ah. So Ratchet was mad at him after all.

Bumblebee knew there was probably going to be a couple lectures in his future. Not that it mattered as he was currently pushing a firm object, at least the size of his fist out of his valve for the first time. The clenching contraction slammed into him and he pushed for all he was worth, hunching forward and bearing down. Thundercracker quickly rubbed his back soothingly and both Skywarp and Starscream squeezed his hands back even though he must have been crushing them painfully.

And then it was out. Everyone ex-vented at the same time in relief as the egg dropped into Ratchet’s waiting hands. All optics flew to the glowing cerulean orb in wonder. It fit in the palm of Ratchet’s hand and was spherical instead of oblong, the surface was slightly sticky in protective gel and was firm with a little give underneath. It radiated a much darker blue than the teal of Starscream’s eggs. It looked like Bumblebee’s optics when was deeply exhausted...or aroused.

Ah but that was what had gotten him into this state to start with.

Ratchet’s grin was so brilliant Bee couldn’t help but smile back tiredly. “They’re perfect. The color is brilliant and despite your scrap refueling the spark inside is strong and healthy. One down, seven more to go.”

Bee’s optics widened at that as Ratchet bent over and carefully put the egg in the bowl Thundercracker had brought over. The familiar pinch of the next egg falling into position startled Bee and he groaned in static.

All optics were back on him as his trine tried to soothe him through the next contraction, push, and release of the egg. It happened much faster this time but it still burned and stretched and felt strange. After the second and third egg got the medic’s seal of good health the fourth came with barely any pushing. He was so tired after the fifth and sixth even though Ratchet hooked him up to another bag of medgrade.

His vision was blurring black at the edges and everyone was trying to give him their strength through holding him and their fields. His trine was trying through the bond, funneling as much endurance and support as they possibly could into him. He somehow made it through number seven and eight without blacking out but it was a near thing that he could practically taste the worry in the air around him. Ratchet was doing some more scans, turning quickly back and forth between him and the new eggs.

As Bee’s optics flickered and his field dipped low with utter sparkdeep exhaustion he felt Starscream press a kiss to his forehead and mutter. “You’re amazing, do you know that? So small and yet you just gave us all eight healthy, beautiful, incredible sparklings. You are beloved, truly a treasure. Thank you for choosing us.”

His spark soared at his words and all three of them agreed exuberantly through the bond, that yes Bee was great, and they loved him, and it was so good he was there with them, and what he had just done was momentous and so strong.

Bee's engine hummed and he almost dropped into recharge right then except Ratchet gently laid the bowl with all eight of their eggs on his chest. Starscream and Skywarp pulled his limp hands up in theirs to touch the eggs, lightly, reverently. They were beautiful.

He felt their little sparks pulse under his hand and something he hadn’t known the name for fell into place. This was what had been missing. He had to tell everyone, explain it, he needed everyone to understand. This feeling of oneness was what they all needed to have in order to stop the war. To finally be at peace.

Also he wanted to share his joy with all his friends, especially Charlie, he was sure she would understand better than most how important finding you family truly was.

He finally dropped into recharge to the sounds of Starscream arguing with Ratchet on whether to move him and the eggs now or later and Thundercracker and Skywarp gently fussing over him. It was perfect. It was hope. Bumblebee was finally happy.         

 


End file.
